Disciple of the Iron Element: Lucario
by Adamanton
Summary: The pokemon story about the adventures of a Lucario named Lloyd who cannot use the power of Aura. As he vetures across the Sinnoh region, Lloyd discovers just how important he is to steel types around the world. My first fanfic. No flames please.
1. Prologue: A Promise

**Disciple of the Iron Element: Lucario**

**Prologue: A Promise**

**By Tilfang**

**Author's Notes: This is my first Fanfiction, it is one of many in a series.**

**Special thanks to L100Meganium for being my beta reader and taking the time to edit!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or any other namesakes or references to the games; they are all copyrights to Nintendo.**

_Eighteen Years Ago_

A wild Lucario gazed out into the sky while standing on the edge of a cliff. He watched as the sun was engulfed in a concentration of dark clouds. Rain poured down relentlessly on the mountainous landscape known to the humans as Iron Island.

His name was Luke, a powerful Lucario who had once been a part of a legendary rescue team. He had given that up in exchange for a quiet, peaceful life on Iron Island with his mate and his newborn son.

Yes, Luke was a father now, and that fact alone made him happier than ever before in his life.

"Luke," spoke a soft, female voice. "Come inside. It's starting to rain."

"Coming, Aurora." Luke responded as he turned around and walked into the cave in which the voice had originated. As he entered, he saw Aurora, sitting down by the small campfire she had made earlier. Aurora was Luke's mate, a female Lucario who was as strong as she was beautiful. She had once traveled on her own across the Sinnoh region on explorations and adventures, but had recently settled down after meeting Luke. On her lap laid their newborn child, a Riolu, only recently hatched from his egg and was now seeing and hearing for the first time in his life.

"He's beautiful, isn't he?" Aurora smiled as she cradled the baby Riolu in her arms.

"He looks just like you," Luke smiled warmly. "Hello there, my son." He said, caressing the baby's cheeks as he hugged his father's paw.

"What shall we name him?"

"Hmm." Luke thought for a moment. "How about-"

His train of thought was interrupted by the sound of large footsteps outside of the cave.

Instinctively, Luke soundlessly ran over to the cave entrance, positioning himself whilst signaling Aurora to hide with the baby.

Aurora quickly put out the fire and hid behind a pile of rocks while keeping the baby protected.

Once they were concealed, Luke peeked around the corner of the cave mouth, using his aura sensors to trace the approaching figure.

To his surprise, and relief, Luke could make out a massive, yet familiar, silhouette standing outside.

"You should've told us beforehand you were coming," Luke said, smiling as he emerged out of his hiding spot. "We weren't expecting any guests; I thought you were a human for a second."

The dark figure stepped forward in response, revealing to be a large behemoth made partly of rock and metal. His name was Aggron, and he had been best friends with Luke since they were in their first forms.

"Sorry," Aggron replied, rubbing the back of his head. "It was raining when I woke up; didn't want to send a messenger in this weather."

The iron armor Pokémon was visibly exhausted from running in the rain, and the fact that he was partly a rock type, weak to water, didn't seem to make the journey any easier.

"You must be tired, come and rest inside." Luke invited the large bipedal Pokémon in the cave. Aggron followed his friend, gazing around the iron wrought walls until his eyes rested on the baby Riolu lying in his mother's arms.

"So the rumors are true," a large grin appeared on Aggron's face. "Luke and Aurora are now parents, huh?"

"The egg hatched a few hours ago," Aurora explained. "We were just about to give him a name."

"A name huh?" Aggron scratched his chin. "Well, if he's a boy, then he should be something…heroic."

"Heroic?" Aurora raised an eyebrow. "Who ever said my son was going to become a some fighting barbarian?"

"Aw, being a warrior isn't the same as being a 'barbarian'. I mean, look at Luke." Aggron put an arm around Luke's shoulder. "He's the toughest pokemon around, but he's also one of the nicest guys Iv'e ever known; who wouldn't want to grow up to be just like him?"

Luke blushed out of embarrassment upon hearing the last comment.

"Regardless," Aurora turned back to her baby. "I think his name should be something noble and valiant."

"How about Lionel?" Luke suggested. "That was my father's name. He was a great Pokémon in his time."

"Hmm," Aurora thought. "How about…Lloyd? Yes, Lloyd! It's perfect, noble and valiant." She turned to the baby Riolu. "What do you think?"

The Riolu responded by snuggling up to his mother, giving a playful yip.

"Alright, then it's settled," Aurora said hugging her newborn child. "Your name is now Lloyd."

Aggron let out a groan, he had both hoped to give the child a strong, powerful name, but he knew from experience that once Aurora had made a decision that was that.

"Besides," Aurora continued. "It suits him considering how important he is to the world."

Aggron's face darkened.

"So, the other rumors are true too," Aggron said in a hushed whisper. "Your son is one of the seventeen chosen disciples."

The room suddenly became silent; the only audible sound was the rain gently pouring at the cave entrance. Luke said nothing, slowly nodding at the steel behemoth to confirm his statement.

"You know what this means," Aggron said, glancing at the now sleeping Riolu. "He will not be like the others of his kind."

"We had no choice," Aurora responded. "Once a decision has been made there is no turning back."

"Don't you understand?" Aggron said louder than before. "Lloyd will never lead a normal life! Not so long as he has that-"

"That's enough!" Luke shouted, careful not to awaken his sleeping baby. "It doesn't matter whether or not he will be able to use Aura, my son will lead whatever life he chooses regardless."

"No one asked him if he wanted this," Aggron growled. "He's not even a child for Dialga's sake! Putting such a burden on him like this…it's…it's unthinkable."

"I know," Luke said grimly. "I was against it from the start." He gazed over at Lloyd. The baby Riolu stirred while sleeping in his mother's arms. He then let out a small yawn before awakening. The baby gazed around the room until his little eyes rested on Luke.

"Pappa," Lloyd said softly, reaching his small hands out towards his dad.

"Aww," Aurora smiled. "He wants his father to hold him." She said, addressing her lover.

"He…he can speak already?" Luke said incredulously as he approached his son. Aurora held out baby Lloyd towards Luke who took the boy into his arms. The baby smiled and cuddled against Luke's chest before falling asleep.

Lloyd smiled warmly at Lloyd as he slept peacefully. "Lloyd will become a great Lucario someday." He said. "I just know he will, but more importantly, I believe he will prosper in this world, whether or not he decides to follow the path of disciple."

"Luke…" Aurora leaned on her mate's side, wrapping her arms around his as she rested her head on his shoulder.

Aggron opened his mouth to give another protest, but no words came out. He had remembered that he too had once been a father, but had lost both his wife and child to an illness. The pain of losing both of them was an unbearable experience, one that Aggron had prayed would never happen again. Perhaps that was why he was arguing now, because he did not to see anyone else go through the same tragedy that he did.

"I'm sorry," Aggron finally said, embarrassed for speaking so rashly. "It was not my place to say those things and…you're right," he glanced again at the sleeping baby. "I'm sure one day Lloyd will become a great Lucario."

"No, it's alright," Luke said reassuringly to his friend. "And thank you, for being so concerned for Lloyd. I appreciate it."

They both relaxed as Aurora gathered more wood to start another fire. Using Fire Punch, she quickly set the dried wood ablaze. Luke and Aggron watched without a word as orange flames awakened from beneath the ground and illuminated the dark cave. Luke slowly wrapped Lloyd's body in a blanket so that he was warm and then handed the baby back to Aurora.

"He's lucky, you know," Aggron finally said, breaking the silence. "To have you two as a mom and dad, I couldn't think of better parents to raise him." He smiled sincerely. "Congratulations, Luke, Aurora."

"Congratulations yourself," Luke said, smiling as he sat next to his wife. "Because we have both decided…that we would like you to be his godfather."

Aggron's eyes widened in surprise, completely caught off-guard, something that rarely ever happened to the iron armored pokemon.

"Wha- His godfather? Me?" Aggron struggled to find the right words. "Umm, are you sure?"

"Absolutely." Aurora said. "You've done so much for our family; it's the least we could do. And we think you would make a wonderful guardian to our newborn son."

Aggron stood in there in the center of the cave, eyes widened in shock and his mouth hung agape. Luke had to keep himself from laughing at the sight of the goofy steel type.

"I-I-I-I don't know what to say," Aggron was speechless.

"Just…promise us that if anything ever happens to me or Luke…you'll look after Lloyd in our place," Aurora said.

Aggron's expression darkened. "Don't ever say things like that."

"Aggron…"

"I won't ever let anything happen to you, Luke or Lloyd," Aggron said confidently. "You're all like my family now. I'll protect all of you."

"Please." Luke became serious once more. "Please, just promise us, even if nothing happens, that you'll watch over Lloyd when we aren't here. Treat him as if he were your own child."

Aggron's smile faded, in its place a stood a troubled expression. He briefly glanced at the baby Riolu sleeping peacefully against Aurora's chest. At first glance the boy looked like any other baby Riolu he had seen, but that wasn't the case. Lloyd was Luke's only son, the pride and joy of his best friend.

"Alright," Aggron sighed. He had decided: he would watch over the Lucario family, ensuring that no danger would ever befall them, but if the time should ever come where Luke and Aurora proved to be unavailable, then…

"I promise."


	2. Prologue 2: Tragedy on Iron Island

**Disciple of the Iron Element: Lucario**

**Prologue 2: Tragedy on Iron Island**

**By Tilfang**

**Author's Notes: Whew, took forever for an update, school has been murder lately. Anyway, next chapter is up, enjoy.**

**Special thanks to L100Meganium for being my beta reader and taking the time to edit!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or any other namesakes or references to the games; they are all copyrights to Nintendo.**

_Ten Years Later_

Lloyd was a riolu. That much was obvious for he had all of the physical qualities of one; black feet, red eyes, aura sensors and even a yellow collar. However, he lacked the most vital trait that all Riolu possessed. Since birth, Lloyd was unable to use the power of Aura.

Upon discovering this, Lloyd trained tirelessly everyday with both his father and mother to overcome his condition, but each attempt brought no sign of improvement. Even his god father, Aggron, attempted to assist Lloyd in his training, but it did not help.

Yet in spite of how self conscious he was, Lloyd remained oblivious to how important he was to the entire pokemon world, particularly steel types.

Another day was coming to an end, for the sun had slowly begun its descent behind Mt. Coronet. Lloyd sighed as he sat upon the ledge of one of the mountains on Iron Island. Numerous flying type pokemon including the common Staravia, Chatot, Gligar, and even the occasional Honchkrow flew towards the horizon, returning to their nests to retire for the day.

Lloyd had just finished his training, which included hours of punching, kicking and meditation, and while his physical condition was in top form, he was still unable to conjure up any Aura energy at all.

On a regular basis, Lloyd would grow frustrated with his failure, which often led to more punching and kicking, but for some reason he wasn't as energetic compared to earlier days. Maybe he had grown accustomed to disappointment, or perhaps he had come to accept that he would never be able to wield the power of Aura.

"It's not fair," he complained as he gazed at the clouds "Mom and dad are the best Aura users on the Island, but I can't even see Aura."

Lloyd sighed as he stretched and yawned. "Maybe I'm some sort of freak…"

"You shouldn't say things like that about yourself."

Lloyd twisted around to see none other than his father, Luke, climbing up the cliff behind him "Thought I'd find you up here."

Luke walked up and gazed out into the horizon, a small smile appearing on his face as he recalled older memories of when he too would scale a tall structure just for the sake of witnessing the sun descending.

"Nice sunset, huh?" Luke said after a moment of silence.

"Yeah," Lloyd responded without much enthusiasm. "It's okay, I guess."

Luke glanced at his son before sitting down next to him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I was just…thinking, that's all," Lloyd said as his gaze fell to the floor.

"About your training?"

"Yeah…I just don't get it," Lloyd said as he looked up at Luke's face "Why can't I feel Aura? I've been trying for years now and still nothing."

Luke sighed as he rested an arm around Lloyd's shoulder. "You shouldn't worry yourself with those sorts of things, mastering Aura takes time."

"Yeah, but it only took you a few years to master." Lloyd replied "Why can't I use it?"

"Let me ask you another question, why do you want to learn how to use Aura, Lloyd?" Luke asked.

The Riolu hesitated, thinking for a moment before responding. "I wanna use Aura so I can grow up to be the strongest Lucario!" Lloyd said confidently.

"Well, then, in that case you don't need the power of Aura at all." Luke chuckled.

"Huh?"

"You don't need it," Luke repeated. "You can easily become the strongest Lucario without so much as seeing Aura."

"R-really?" Lloyd blinked, surprised at his father's response.

"Sure, I mean you have the important things a warrior needs, dedication, potential and determination. I've seen you during your training, even Aggron agrees, you always put your heart in whatever you do, and that is all that really matters in the long run." Luke said.

"Y-Yeah but…what if I evolve into a Lucario…and I still can't use Aura?" Lloyd said with an undertone of anxiety. "What then?"

However, Luke merely shrugged "So what? That doesn't mean you aren't a Lucario," Luke said "Pokemon are not given names because of what they do or what attacks they use. I mean, what if a Snover can't grow berries, does that mean he's some sort of 'freak'?"

"N-no, I guess not." Lloyd said.

"Then why should you be any different?" Luke said as he hugged his son "I know you'll be a strong Lucario one day, and you'll get there with or without Aura."

"Really?" Lloyd perked up and wagged his tail.

"Of course," Luke smiled back "Your one of the toughest pokemon on this island (Not as much as your mother, though) you don't need Aura to be a strong warrior. But most importantly, always remember to never let others get you down about your abilities. Your mother and I both love you and you should love yourself, not just for who you want to be but for whom you are now, remember that…Whoa, it's getting late, we should head back." Luke said as he noticed the darkening sky.

"Okay." Lloyd replied as he followed his father back down the mountain.

It was nightfall by the time both of them entered their cave on the northern part of Iron Island.

Lloyd's mother was already resting on her bed when Luke sat down to join her. "Goodnight, Lloyd." He said as he lay down.

"Goodnight," Lloyd said as he sat down on his bed. "Oh, umm, hey dad?"

"Mmm, what is it?"

"Thanks." Lloyd smiled as he drifted off into sleep "I love you, dad."

"I love you too, son."

-The Next Morning-

Lloyd yawned as he stretched and stood up from his bed. The light from the morning sun was leaking into the cave mouth, partially filling up the den.

As he got out, Lloyd noticed that his parents were still asleep. Not wanting to wake them up, he tiptoed out of the cave and slid down the mountain side.

"Time to do some laps." He grinned as he dashed down to the mountain valley.

It was standard procedure: three laps around the island followed by muscle exercises and then meditation.

If he could complete them without distractions, he would be finished by midday. However, no later than three minutes after he started did he spot a shadow gliding next to him.

He darted his eyes towards the sky where he saw a familiar figure flying above him.

"Morning, Lloyd." The bug-shaped figure chirped.

"Morning, Vibrava." Lloyd responded, waving to the flying dragon type.

Vibrava was Lloyd's closest friend and companion. He had appeared one day on Iron Island from nowhere and was adopted by a family of Skarmories. Although he wasn't a steel type, he was happily welcomed among the other steel type Pokemon.

Since meeting, Lloyd and Vibrava had gotten along instantly and did everything together from training to pulling pranks on the older Pokemon.

Unfortunately, he had a notorious reputation for seeking attention from both humans and Pokemon, whether it was through showing off or irritating them to madness.

"You seem to be in a good mood." Lloyd mused, noticing the smug look on his friend's face "You haven't been up to any trouble, have you?"

"Yup." The dragon admitted without hesitation.

"Really, what was it this time?"

"Some old human with a shovel," Vibrava said with a smirk "He was digging for fossils all day, and he kept on singing about how much he loved fossils. It drove me out of my mind so I decided to try and steal one…you know, to see his reaction."

Lloyd smiled. He loved hearing about Vibrava's pranks "So what happened when you did?"

"Umm, I don't remember all of it," Vibrava scratched his head as he tried to recall "I remember he got real mad, so he chased after me. I outpaced him, but then he sent out a Bastiodon and ordered it to use some attack. Then…everything went black and I woke up in a huge crater."

Lloyd burst out laughing at his friend's misfortune while Vibrava scowled.

"Hey! It's not funny! I got bruises all over my body from that stupid human." Vibrava said.

"I'm sorry," Lloyd said after he stopped laughing. "It's just that you –

THUD

Lloyd groaned as he slammed into a large object.

"Oh, sorry," the object said. "Didn't see you there."

The Riolu groaned again as he rubbed his head, but as he looked up he instantly recognized who he had bumped into.

"Hi, Aggron!" Lloyd said cheerfully, trying to ignore the throbbing in his head.

"Oh, hello Lloyd." he said, turning to face him. "Training early again, I see."

"Yup," Lloyd smiled "I'm gonna give it my very best today, sorry, no time to talk, see you around." He said quickly as he turned to leave.

"Watch yourself now there are humans on the island."

This made both of them stop.

"Really?" Lloyd said, turning to face Aggron. "Are they trainers?"

"I don't think so." Aggron scratched his chin "But they were dressed rather oddly for humans."

"What did they look like?" Vibrava asked.

"It's hard to describe," Aggron said "They came with a whole bunch of their human machines or whatever, I overheard some of them talk, they called themselves Team Galactic or something like that."

Aggron shook his head "Regardless of whether or not they are trainers, you should watch yourselves." He said addressing both Lloyd and Vibrava. "You don't want to go off and get captured, at least not at such young ages."

"Don't worry, we'll be extra careful" Lloyd shouted as he took off again with Vibrava following. "Thanks, and bye!"

"Take care!" Aggron said back as the two Pokemon ran off into the distance.

After around ten more minutes of running, Vibrava became restless.

"This is getting booooring." Vibrava complained as he flew alongside Lloyd. "Let's go do something funny…like drawing graffiti on Bronzong while he's resting." He chuckled.

"Come on, Vibrava." Lloyd said as he continued running. "Just a bit more…"

However, Lloyd was interrupted by the sound of a loud explosion.

The two Pokemon froze as a huge pillar of blue light rocketed into the sky. The light seemed to be coming from the center of the Island, although it was certainly far away.

The tip of the light then changed course and flew towards the mainland, striking Mt. Coronet.

The beam continued to flow like a powerful river flowing from the middle of the island to the tip of Mt. Coronet. While the spectacle was awe inspiring, it was definitely unnatural.

Lloyd wondered if this was the human's dong.

The light continued for several minutes, the two pokemon were hypnotized by the swirl of blue and green that radiated from the light. What was really strange was that Lloyd thought he could hear a ringing sound, and although it was faint, it was definitely coming from the beam of light.

"Hey, you hear something?" Lloyd asked as he attempted to see where the sound may be coming from.

"Uhhh, no not really." Vibrava responded, confused.

"That's strange, because I thought I heard a…"

BOOM

Lloyd was cut off by the sound of another huge explosion, this one larger than the last but in a different location.

More explosions went off, followed by an earth shattering roar.

Lloyd immediately bolted towards the second sound.

"HEY, don't go! It might be dangerous!" Vibrava called after his friend, but he was well out of sight.

Lloyd ignored the warning, panicking as his mind was plagued with only one thought: The explosion came from his house, where his parents were still sleeping.

He dashed as fast as his legs could manage; sweat rolling down his head, hoping with all his heart that his mother and father were unharmed.

As he jumped over a large boulder, Lloyd felt the ground rumble under his feet.

He was running even faster now, adrenaline pumping through his veins.

As he entered a large clearing, his entire body froze up at what he saw.

A Steelix, massive, much larger than any he had ever seen lay stood before him with his back turned to him.

Before the Steelix, Lloyd saw a huge pile of rubble: The remains of his home.

Lloyd hastily scanned the area for his parents, and was relieved when he saw both of them, seemingly unharmed on the edge of the mound of rocks.

His relief turned into horror when he saw the Steelix raise its tail to attack them.

On instinct, Lloyd dashed forward, paw outstretched and glowing with power.

"Take this Brick Break!" Lloyd slammed his fist against the snake's body, cracking it slightly.

However Steelix did not seem to show any sign of external pain, he merely turned around to face the Riolu and swung his tail towards him instead.

Lloyd dodged the attack with ease, Steelix may have been strong, but he was slow.

He then looked up to face his adversary, expecting to see a twisted snarling face, yet to his surprise, the giant pokemon's face seemed to be conflicted, its eyes were glowing blue and his face seemed to possess a mixture or pain and irritation.

Steelix then dove in for a Crunch attack but Lloyd timed the attack and leaped over the snake's head as it came down close to him.

"Eat this, DRAIN PUNCH!" Lloyd's yelled as his fist came crashing down on Steelix's head, sending it plummeting to the earth.

To his dismay, there was no sign that his attack had done any damage at all. Annoyed, Steelix flung his head upwards with Lloyd still on it, causing the Aura pokemon to go flying across the valley.

Lloyd landed against a boulder, stunning him. He yelped in pain as he fell to the ground.

In the midst of the chaos, he wondered why his parents had not jumped into the fight or even made an effort to escape; they were more than capable of dealing with the iron serpent.

However, Lloyd saw that his mom and dad looked as if they were in pain. Although there was no sign of any bruises or cuts on them, they were clutching their heads as if they were being tormented. It was as if all pokemon were under some sort of curse.

"What the…WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING?"

Lloyd turned around to see that Vibrava had followed him, for he had just emerged from over the hill, shock evident in his expression.

However, Vibrava did not seem to be under the same influence as the Steelix or his parents.

_Is it only affecting steel types? _Lloyd thought.

"Lloyd!" Vibrava shouted. "I tried to follow you, but then I ran into Aggron, and he acted all crazy! Like a Spinda overdosed on Carbos'!"

Lloyd's eyes widened when he heard this.

_So it __**is**__ only steel types_, Lloyd thought. However, he was interrupted when he heard the Steelix groan from across the field.

"Vibrava!" Lloyd called "Go find Aggron, try and get him back to normal and tell him my mom and dad are in trouble!" he said hastily.

"But…"

"Go!"

The dragon didn't respond, but nodded quickly and darted off to find the armored Pokemon.

Steelix emerged from the ground, practically unscathed and approached Luke and Aurora.

Lloyd despaired "He's practically unhurt and my parents are unable to battle, how do I beat him now, none of my attacks work!"

He thought back and remembered what his dad taught him about steel types, that they have good defenses and high stamina, but they can easily be taken out by super effective non physical attacks like Aura Sphere.

Lloyd despaired even further "Shoot, I can't use Aura Sphere because I can't use Aura!"

As Steelix approached the two paralyzed pokemon, he used bind on them, and while it was a type disadvantage, both pokemon were losing HP.

Lloyd knew at least one Aura Sphere was capable of stopping the Steelix, at least enough for him to release his bind attack.

If only he wasn't cursed with the inability to use Aura!

But he couldn't give up, not with his parent's trapped within Steelix's coils.

Lloyd immediately got into a meditation stance as he had done numerous times during training.

His mother had told him that Aura was the life force within every living thing and that the key to controlling it was to manipulate both physical and mental powers together as one. He had tried countless times in the past, but he had failed every time.

Lloyd focused, attempting to use the anger and frustration to motivate himself.

Closing his eyes, Lloyd focused as hard as he could, his muscles tensed as he felt energy surge from within him. He opened his eyes; but nothing was happening.

"Dang it!" Lloyd tried again and again to maintain focus, but each time he failed to produce the blue sphere.

To his relief, Steelix had released the two pokemon, only to hit them with a Slam attack into a corner.

Lloyd was desperate; he could hear both his parents struggling against Steelix.

He cursed after another failure, angry at himself for being so incompetent.

Anger.

Lloyd froze, he could feel a strange power coursing through his body, it was sending chills up his spine, but he could feel it. And it was coming from his hatred. Focusing this power, Lloyd attempted to further his own anger, heightening his frustration towards the Steelix for attacking his family.

It was working; he felt even more power flowing through his body after stimulating thoughts of anger.

Lloyd opened his eyes, he could see it! It was a strange energy flowing into his palms through his arms and chest.

It must have been the power of Aura! He had done it! He had mastered Aura!

"Aura sphere!" Lloyd shot out his arms, forcing the power from within him, the power he had built up.

But nothing had happened.

Shocked and horrified, Lloyd stared at his paws; there was no blue flame, no sign of any visible power.

Nothing.

Yet the Steelix had also vanished. As Lloyd scanned the area, he found no sign of Steelix anywhere. He spotted his mom and dad, lying near the ledge of a massive chasm in the ground. Aurora appeared to be unconscious while Luke was still awake, but visibly weakened.

Relief coursing through his veins, Lloyd quickly got to his feet and ran over to them to ensure they were unharmed.

However, what Lloyd did not know was that the cliff Luke and Aurora were standing on was unstable, weakened by Steelix's slam attack. Being Aura Pokemon, they knew that too much movement would cause the cliff to crumble and fall into the giant fissure. But Lloyd, being unable to sense Aura did not notice this, and continued to run towards them…

As he got closer, Luke quickly caught sight of his approaching son and panicked.

"WAIT! Lloyd, STOP! DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!"

But it was too late.

The ledge that Luke and Aurora were standing on gave way as soon as Lloyd stepped on it, sending all three of them tumbling towards the edge of the cliff.

"What the…" Lloyd panicked as the ground he was standing on shattered and broke apart. He grabbed onto the ledge, just in time to save himself from falling down the bottomless chasm.

Pulling himself up, he looked around but did not see his mom and dad.

Panicking, Lloyd quickly looked over the edge of the cliff, and felt relief wash over him as he caught sight of Luke, who was hanging on to a large branch near the ledge, holding with one paw onto Aurora.

His relief turned to terror as he saw the branch was beginning to break.

On impulse, Lloyd reached over the edge, trying to get close to his father's paw.

"W-What are you doing?" Luke shouted as he saw Lloyd slowly tip over the edge of the cliff "Stay up there!"

"I can reach you!" Lloyd shouted desperately as he inched closer "I can almost grab your paw!"

"You'll fall!"

"I can do it!" Lloyd repeated, ignoring his father's warnings "Just a bit more!"

He was desperate, after nearly losing the fight against the Steelix due to his inability to use Aura only made him more determined to save his mom and dad, but…

"LLOYD!"

The child Riolu froze, hearing his father's commanding voice snapped his attention towards Luke's gaze.

He had heard that tone before, when he was in trouble or when he did not do as he was told. Lloyd looked at his father's eyes, expecting to see an angry expression on his dad's face.

Yet Luke looked at Lloyd with a sad expression, a mixture of sorrow and regret clouded his eyes. It was a face Lloyd had never seen on his father, and he was shocked to see a tear roll down Luke's face.

"Farewell, my son." Luke said, almost a whisper as he let go of the branch.

"NO!" Lloyd screamed "Mom! Dad! NOOOOO!"

Lloyd shot forward in an attempt to catch Luke's falling hand, however he was too late, and the momentum caused Lloyd to lose his footing and trip down the ledge.

Luke anticipated this and he quickly, with one arm, charged an Aura Sphere and fired it at Lloyd.

The blue orb did not strike Lloyd directly, however it hit the wall of the cliff beneath him, and the shock wave was enough to blast Lloyd back onto the ledge.

Lloyd winced as he shook off the effect of the attack and ran back over to the edge of the fissure.

He quickly scanned the chasm, but they were nowhere to be found, they were gone.

"No…" Lloyd whimpered as he collapsed to his knees. Tears began surfacing to his eyes as he broke down and sobbed.

They were gone, the parents that raised him, the parents that had loved him, they were gone forever. No words could describe the pain and anguish Lloyd felt as he wept over the edge of the cliff.

"Please…don't leave me…," he cried as he lay on his side, his entire body now trembling "I..I couldn't save them…I wasn't strong enough…I f-f-ailed them."

Lloyd attempted to fight back the tears, but they just kept coming. He felt a rough throbbing in his throat and his entire body went cold.

"Why…" his voice was barely over a whisper "Why them…Why now…I-I wanted them to see me become the strongest…I w-wanted to make them to be proud of me….but now…"

He was interrupted as the sound of earth shattering came from behind him. Lloyd twirled around to find the Steelix had emerged from underground, still thrashing about with irritation.

At first, Lloyd was overcome with fear, suddenly feeling the urge to run. But that fear quickly morphed into anger, the anxiety turned into hatred and sorrow turned into animosity.

"YOU!" Lloyd growled as he turned on the Steelix "YOU did this…you attacked them!…You killed them!"

However Steelix ignored him, continuing his rampage and breaking nearby rocks in the process.

"WHY, why did you do this?" Lloyd shouted, enraged that Steelix had not even noticed him. "Look at me!"

The Steelix merely resumed thrashing and flailing, which angered Lloyd even more.

"I don't care if my attacks don't work on you!" Lloyd screamed as he charged up for an assault "I'm gonna make you PAY FOR THIS!"

He shot off towards his foe, arms retracted for a Metal Claw attack. Although it was a type disadvantage, Lloyd was determined to make the Steelix pay for what it had done.

What Lloyd did not notice was that a strange silver energy began engulfing him, the metal claw he had created became even larger than usual, and his speed increased, causing him to run even faster than before.

"Take this!" Lloyd screamed as he brought down the claw against the Steelix's hide.

SCRUNCH

Lloyd's eyes widened as he witnessed the damage unfold, on the Steelix's chest was a massive gash mark inflicted by the attack.

The Metal Claw had cut right through Steelix's armored skin like tissue paper.

Steelix flailed and flopped in agony, and quickly retreated down into the hole from whence it came.

Too tired to chase after it, Lloyd fell to the ground, overcome with shock at what he had just done. However, after recovering he noticed that a strange feeling was flowing through his body, and he gasped as he looked at his paws.

Energy, white and silver energy was pulsing visibly through his arms and chest. It was the same feeling he felt earlier when he tried to use Aura Sphere, but it was much stronger now. He also remembered feeling it right as he used Metal Claw. However, whatever it was, this energy definitely was not Aura, for it was wild, powerful and rampant.

Intimidated, Lloyd attempted to suppress the feelings of anger he once held, and felt relief when he saw that the silver energy had disappeared once he did.

Lloyd slumped against a nearby rock, overcome with the series of events that had just unfolded.

He gasped as he caught his breath. "What _was_ that?"

He tried to recall what had caused such a burst of energy, but his thoughts were clouded by a rumbling sound.

"LLOYD!" a familiar voice called to him.

Seconds later, Aggron burst through a wall of rocks, looking around he caught sight of Lloyd and quickly approached him.

"Lloyd!" he repeated, panting after the long run "Vi-Vibrava told me what was going on, what happened to the Steelix? And where is Luke and Aurora, are they okay?"

"I'm…I'm alright," Lloyd said " the Steelix…"

However, Lloyd burst into tears once again when images of his parents falling down that cliff came to his mind.

"Oh Arceus." He sobbed. "They're gone…they're really gone"

"Lloyd!" Aggron shouted, not hearing him. "Where are they!"

He didn't respond, merely shaking his head as he attempted to wipe away the tears.

"ANSWER ME!" Aggron shouted desperately, his voice on the edge of breaking. "What happened to Luke and Aurora!"

Lloyd shook his head again, whimpering inaudible sounds, and pointed towards the chasm at the other end of the valley.

Aggron grew silent. He slowly treaded towards the fissure and gazed down in an attempt to find Luke or Aurora or even the bottom of the giant crater. He found neither of them.

Only complete darkness.

"No…" Aggron said, his voice barely a whisper as his breathing increased. "NO, NO, NO!"

Aggron slammed his fist against the ground with every outburst, tears falling from his face.

He then let out a huge roar towards the sky which startled even Lloyd.

"They didn't deserve this!" Aggron shouted angrily towards the sky "Why did this happen! I SHOULD'VE BEEN THERE TO PROTECT THEM!"

Lloyd flinched when he heard these things spoken from Aggron, it wasn't like him to express anger like this. When he had calmed down, Lloyd slowly approached him, careful not to startle him.

"A-Aggron?" Lloyd asked nervously as he got closer. "Are-Are you okay?"

To his surprise, he saw that Aggron was now weeping.

"I-I promised them…" he sobbed "I promised I would keep them safe…away from danger…"

_I won't ever let anything happen to you, Luke or Lloyd. You're all like my family now. I'll protect all of you._

"I failed them." Aggron whimpered as he wiped his eyes. "I…couldn't save them…I-I…"

"A-Aggron?"

The giant steel pokemon turned to see Lloyd standing next to him. "You okay?"

"I-I'm sorry," he turned away, ashamed to face Lloyd "I couldn't save your mom and dad…I'm…so ashamed."

"It's not your fault," Lloyd said as he sat down next to his godfather "Don't feel bad about it…please?"

Aggron looked up at Lloyd's face, still damp from crying earlier, a look a worry on his face.

"I'm sorry," Aggron said as he stood up and patted Lloyd on the head. "I'm happy to see you're all right."

A moment of silence followed as both of them sat down without saying a word.

"Lloyd?"

The two pokemon turned to see Vibrava, slowly approaching behind them, unsure of what to say exactly. "You alright?"

Lloyd shook his head. "I'm-I'm sorry. I just…"

"You can stay at my house, if you want." Vibrava offered, hoping to ease the pain of his best friend.

"R-really? Lloyd was both surprised and touched at his friend's unexpected offer.

"Sure." Vibrava smiled, happy to see Lloyd pleasantly surprised. "We can be like brothers, if you want."

"That will not be necessary."

Both Lloyd and Vibrava looked up at Aggron in surprise, not expecting him to speak up so suddenly.

"Lloyd will be staying with me from now on, I am as of this moment his guardian." Aggron declared.

"You are?" Lloyd said.

"Yes." Aggron nodded as he helped Lloyd to his feet. "I made a promise the day you were born, and I will see to it that you receive proper care."

"Cool, so you're, like, his god father then, huh?" Vibrava said.

"Yes, I suppose you could use that term." Aggron mused, but was cut off when Lloyd pulled him into a small hug.

"Thanks Aggron-" Lloyd said, tears still rolling down his face. "-for being so kind to me all these years."

At first, Aggron was taken aback by Lloyd's affectionate gesture, but he smiled as he hugged his god child back.

"Don't mention it." Aggron said, as his gaze drifted towards some clouds in the sky. Although it may have been his imagination, he could have sworn that two of the clouds were in the shape of two familiar figures.

_Promise us that you'll take care of him in our place. Treat him as if he were your own son._

"Don't worry." Aggron smiled as he looked onto the clouds. "I will."

**To Be Continued…**

**Author's Notes: There is more to come, hoped you enjoyed it. **


	3. Origin of a Hero

**Disciple of the Iron Element: Lucario**

**Chapter 1: Origin of a Hero**

**By Tilfang**

**Author's Notes: Sorry for the long wait, and sorry that it's long in general. The next chapter is up and running.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or any other namesakes or references to the games; they are all copyrights to Nintendo.**

_Present Day_

The Steelix attack, if anything, had only fueled Lloyd's desire to get stronger. He had long since given up on achieving any sort of control over the power of Aura, instead working on using physical attacks and techniques. His determination combined with the training matches with his guardian, Aggron, had turned Lloyd into a formidable Lucario.

Yes, less than a year after his parents were lost, Lloyd had evolved from a Riolu during a fight against an Empoleon. But, even as a Lucario, Lloyd was gifted with incredible fighting capabilities and stamina, which only motivated him to train harder.

Yet in spite of his accomplishments, Lloyd was still plagued by the events of that tragic day. Even after evolving, Lloyd still could not use Aura in any way, in spite of his great fighting powers he still could not draw upon any sort of Aura. This fact only added onto his sorrow, feeling that the death of his mom and dad was, in fact, inevitable. The pokemon on the Island all knew Luke and Aurora very well and had built them a shrine in their honor.

However, what really disturbed the young Lucario was the silver power he had felt when he attacked that Steelix. Since evolving, there were occasions where Lloyd would feel that power surface his body when fighting. No one seemed to know what it was, not even Aggron or Vibrava had a clue as to what that power might have been. One thing Lloyd did discover about this energy was that it increased the power of his steel type attacks. Even against other steel types and even water type pokemon, Lloyd found that his steel attacks caused massive damage against his opponents. Thus moves such as Bullet Punch, Metal Claw and Flash Cannon (Which did not require Aura to master) were his most powerful techniques.

These characteristics would often send Lloyd thinking about who he really was. A Lucario that cannot use the power of Aura, but _can_ use steel type attacks to greater affect than anyone else on the Island.

Lloyd pondered on this fact as he meditated under a waterfall on the south side of Iron Island.

It was midday, and Lloyd was relaxing after a rough match against another Lucario. It was a hard earned victory, which only made the shower feel that much better.

"Ahhh." Lloyd sighed as he let the water pour on him from above. "Nothing like a good bath after a long day under the sun."

It was Lloyd's favorite spot on the Island, a place where he would go if he was tired, stressed, or even just feeling in need of some relaxing. He would often stay in the same spot for hours before getting up again. After drying himself off, Lloyd gathered his belongings and ran off towards Aggron's den.

Ah, yes, Aggron, the Iron Armored pokemon that had taken Lloyd in as his son the day his parents had died. Lloyd had promised to meet his guardian that afternoon to eat lunch, something they rarely did together due to Aggron being so busy all of the time.

In spite of everything that had happened, Lloyd adjusted quickly to life as Aggron's adoptive son. The two got along very well and almost never fought against each other. In fact, Aggron, in contrast to his intimidating appearance, was actually a kind, considerate and compassionate pokemon.

As he was walking, Lloyd could not help but smile at the thought of being so lucky to end up with someone as caring as Aggron was.

The Lucario continued onwards towards Aggron's den. However, as Lloyd got closer, he noticed up in the sky an Altaria flying overhead, moving towards the mainland.

"Strange," Lloyd muttered to himself. "Altaria usually don't come this far out from the region."

He continued to stare at the dragon type until its cloud-like wings blended into the sky, making it practically invisible.

"Hmm…" Lloyd mused. "Must have been lost or something."

**-Later-**

Aggron's den was massive, a huge cave on the northeast side of Iron Island. Pokemon of his species usually possessed huge territories spanning across mountains or even entire valleys. The cave itself was composed of a large main cavern connected by several dozen smaller rooms big enough to fit a house.

Aggron had generously given Lloyd the largest of these rooms to stay in and place his belongings.

As Lloyd reached the entrance to the cave, he glanced at the large cave mouth that he had grown accustomed to seeing so many times. He grinned while remembering all of the times he had spent training and relaxing with Aggron while he was a Riolu. Although it was a great number of years ago, he felt as if everything that happened occurred within a few days.

"Aggron!" Lloyd called out as he entered. "I'm home!"

However, no one responded.

"Heloooooooo?" Lloyd called out again. "Anyone?"

Still there was no response.

"Maybe he's out or something." Lloyd muttered and made his way towards his den. Lloyd had few possessions even as a pokemon, and was used to seeing everything in his room clean and tidy. But once Lloyd turned on the lights he spotted something out of place.

It was a box, small wooden box resting on the center of Lloyd's room. It appeared to be hand carved and patterned with unusual designs and symbols. Lloyd picked it up and saw that there was an engraving on the surface in small letters:

_To Lloyd_

The Lucario's eyes widened in surprise, he had never received gifts in such a manner before.

_A present? _He thought, _for me?_

Lloyd carefully opened the box to find a folded envelope inside. Judging by the amount of dust, he could tell that it was extremely old and untouched. Blowing it off, Lloyd flipped the paper around and saw that there was writing on the envelope's backside.

_To Our Beloved Son_

Lloyd froze, his heart skipping a beat. He instantly recognized the handwriting.

It was from his mother, Aurora.

He quickly ripped off the seal and unfolded the paper to find that it was a letter, written in his mother's handwriting.

_Dear Lloyd, _

The letter said.

_For whatever reason, whether me and your father are dead or have gone missing, we are unable to be with you at this moment._

Lloyd let out a gasp. "Did they…_predict_ that they were gonna die?"Lloyd thought, but he shook his head and read further.

_Lloyd, in the many years we have known and raised you, your father and I have seen what a strong pokemon you have become. We are so proud of you, Lloyd, for trying not only for yourself, but for us as well. Our only regret is that we were unable to stay truthful to you while we were alive._

"Huh?" The Lucario scratched his head, _They…deceived me? About what?_

_You have lived all of your life believing that no one knew why you could not use Aura. Well…that was a lie…you father and I do know. We have always known since you were born, but were forced to keep it a secret from everyone, even from you…our own son. _

_I am afraid even now we are forbidden from telling you why this is so. _

_However, we can show you how to discover for yourself, if you are willing to do so. _

_Lloyd…I will make this brief; you were not born on Iron Island as you always believed, but much further away._

_On the eastern side of Mt. Coronet exists the Iron Temple; a place of reverence to the powerful steel-type Pokemon. It is where humans and Pokemon alike go to worship the power of the Iron element._

_It is also where you were born._

_Lloyd, we cannot stop you from choosing your own path in life. If you wish to find out the truth about your powers, go to the Iron Temple on the other side of Mt. Coronet. Go there if you wish to know of the truth behind your abilities. _

_On the backside of this letter is a map of how to get to the Iron Temple from Iron Island, use it if you wish to travel there. _

Lloyd flipped the note around and saw that there was, as the letter said, a genuine map of the entire Sinnoh region. Lloyd spotted the Iron Temple's location. It was marked with a large silver symbol: a silver shield with small wings and a stylized "S" marked upon it. Lloyd flipped the paper back to the letter.

_Whether you choose to go or stay is up to your decision, but please know that whatever happens, your father and I will always be proud of you. I am sorry that we have had to deceive you this entire time, please forgive us. _

_And remember, we will always be with you, if not in body, then in spirit. _

_We love you, Lloyd._

_-From Aurora and Luke, your loving mother and father. _

_P.S. Please do not burden Aggron or anyone else on Iron Island with telling you the truth. They are all bound to secrecy and will be unable to speak of anything. _

Lloyd slumped back against the wall when he was finished reading. It was a lot to take in at once, his parents, the strange powers, and then the Iron Temple.

"So I wasn't born on Iron Island." Lloyd said to himself. He placed his head into his hands, dizzy from the information that had appeared out of nowhere.

But he had made his decision.

"I gotta find Aggron." Lloyd said, pocketing the letter. "He needs to see this."

**-Later-**

After several minutes of searching, Lloyd finally spotted his god father across a nearby field of rocks.

However, Aggron wasn't alone.

Standing before him was a large group of steel type pokemon. Among them, Lloyd spotted Skarmory, Empoleon, Metagross, Magnezone, Probopass, Scizor, Bastiodon and Bronzong, all pokemon that he had known while growing up.

"Eh?" Lloyd said as he scratched his head. "Are they having a meeting or something?"

Not wanting to intrude, Lloyd hid behind a nearby boulder and crawled over towards the group, careful to remain hidden. Once he found a decent spot, Lloyd peeked over the edge of his hiding place, listening carefully to what they were saying.

"I wonder what they're talking about." Lloyd said to himself, quietly.

"Beats me, adults always bore me to death." said a second voice.

"Yeah," Lloyd smirked. "You have a point."

_Wait…What?_

Lloyd flipped around to his left to find his friend, Flygon, evolved from a Vibrava, now crouching next to him.

"What the…Flygon! What're YOU doing here?" Lloyd exclaimed.

"SHHHHH, keep it down, will ya?" Flygon hissed, clamping his hands around the Lucario's mouth to shut him up. "I'm hiding…whattaya think I'm doin, watching rocks?"

Lloyd pried his mouth free. "Yeah, I can see that...but what are you hiding from?"

"Bastiodon," Flygon said, rolling his eyes. "I busted up his vegetable garden this morning, so he threw a fit and has been chasing me since." The green dragon shook his head. "The guy just doesn't give up."

"You…did what?" Lloyd raised an eyebrow.

"I was practicing my Flamethrower!" Flygon said in defense. "Besides, I didn't even know you _could_ grow vegetables on this floating rock."

Lloyd merely shook his head and then turned his attention back to the group.

"Say," Flygon said, addressing his friend. "Why are _you_ here, anyway."

Lloyd shifted his position, waiting for an opportunity to get closer to the group when no one was looking. "I need to speak to Aggron about something important." And that was all he said.

Seeing his chance, Lloyd quickly jumped over his hiding spot and dove behind another boulder, much closer to the group than before. Edging around, Lloyd got into a spot where he was able to both see and hear what the group was doing without being spotted himself.

"Our fears have been confirmed." the Empoleon was saying, addressing the group before him. "The Iron Plate has washed up on Iron Island."

A murmur broke out amongst the small crowd; however they were silenced when Aggron raised a hand.

"Has it been properly examined?" Aggron inquired.

"Just this morning," Magnezone answered. "And there is no denying it."

The magnet pokemon nodded at Probopass who used his magnetic powers to lift up a nearby object lying on the floor. It looked like an ordinary grey tablet at first; however it began to glow white with energy. Suddenly, a small emblem became visible on the center of the tablet; two golden rings with rungs going through them on four sides.

Lloyd gasped as he saw the display from his hiding spot; he knew exactly what he was looking at.

"There is no mistaking it," Magnezone repeated. "This is the very same Iron Plate used by Arceus."

A silence hung over the group of steel types, for everyone had frozen with shock.

"Umm," Bastiodon was the first to recover. "How do we know that it _really_ belongs to Arceus"

"Fool!" Scizor hissed. "Have you not heard the rumors? Apparently someone has stolen the Iron Plate from Arceus in his slumber! Do you think it is by coincidence that an identical one arrives on our shores the next day?"

"Calm yourself!" Aggron scolded before turning back to the group. "So what?" he said. "I don't see why we're making such a big commotion here…why not just keep it safe until Arceus comes to pick it back up?"

"That will not do any good," Metagross spoke up. "Look at the situation. The Iron Plate gets stolen from Arceus, and then the thief just decides to toss it into the ocean?" Metagross shook his head. "No one would believe that story, the fact of the matter is that there is a probable chance Arceus will believe that _we_ are the culprits."

The other pokemon looked at each other with worry, however Aggron stood firm.

"Arceus is a merciful deity." Aggron responded. "He will understand."

"Perhaps," Metagross nodded. "But…are you willing to take that risk?"

Aggron gave the Iron Leg pokemon a confused look.

"It is true, Arceus is an understanding master," Metagross continued "However, we must not forget how easily his wrath is evoked, especially in situations involving the Plates. If Arceus comes to Iron Island and believes that we stole the Iron Plate…it is likely that he will destroy the Island as his means of punishment."

A panic arose from the small crowd as the pokemon were now chattering wildly; however they were silenced once again when Aggron began banging his fist against a metal rock to calm them down.

"Alright," Aggron said. "So what do you suggest we do about it?"

"We return the Iron Plate to Arceus before he comes here looking for it." Empoleon spoke this time. "He is still asleep in the Hall of Origin, and will not awake until the next eclipse after this month. We can return it to him before he awakens. That way Arceus will know that we received it by mistake and had every intention of giving it back to him."

"And how do you propose we do that?"

"Here," Empoleon said, unfolding what appeared to be a large map, tucked under his flipper. He pinned it on a nearby wall for everyone to see.

"On the opposite side of the Sinnoh region rests the Iron Temple, where the Iron Plate was created," Empoleon explained. "Our plan is to return the Iron Plate to the temple shrine where Arceus can retrieve it when he awakens."

Several of the other pokemon nodded in agreement. It was a solid plan, however Aggron remained skeptical.

"You guys are forgetting," he said. "This is the Iron Temple we are talking about, almost all the way across the Sinnoh region. Who could make such a journey in just a little over a month?"

The pokemon began thinking of possible candidates for the trip. However, being steel pokemon who had lived on Iron Island for such a long time did not exactly make them fast travelers.

"What about you?" Bastiodon said, addressing Aggron. "Weren't you once part of a famous rescue team?"

Aggron shook his head. "I must stay here in case something happens to the Island, and you know I cannot travel because I am bound to Iron Island."

The pokemon continued to discuss with each other as to who would be a good choice to send on this long journey.

Unknown to any of them, Lloyd had heard every word they had said. He was still in his hiding place, shocked at what he had just heard, not so much about the mission as much as the place they spoke of.

"The Iron Temple…" he said in a whisper. "The same place where I was born."

He glanced around to peek at the map Empoleon had pinned against the wall. It was an old map, the paint was faded and the folds were tattered, however the Iron Temple was there, marked with a silver symbol for recognition.

"That symbol…" Lloyd whipped out the letter from his mom and dad and looked at the map on the backside.

It had the same icon on the Temple as the one on the map.

"So I was born in the same place Arceus created steel types…" Lloyd said to himself, _Is the Iron Plate somehow connected with my powers?_

Everything was coming at him too quickly, the truth of his birth, the mystery behind his powers…and now this.

Without even thinking, Lloyd emerged from his hiding spot and slowly approached the bickering group. He did not know why, but something had told him to get up and reveal himself to the small crowd.

As he got closer, Scizor noticed him getting closer and spoke up. "Hey!" he said, garnering the attention of the others. "How about Lloyd?"

Lloyd snapped back into reality, realizing that he had been discovered.

"Lloyd?" Aggron said in surprise, shoving through the crowd of pokemon to get to him.

"What are you doing here?" Aggron said, looking at the Lucario in the eye. "I thought I told you to go back to the cave!"

"I did," Lloyd responded defensively. "I went back just as you said, and then…" he reached down to his side and held out the letter. "…I found this in my room."

Aggron took the piece of paper and looked through its contents. When he had finished reading, he turned back to Lloyd, unable to hold the surprise in his expression.

"Where…" his voice was barely over a whisper. "Where did you get this?"

"I found it," Lloyd repeated. "In a chest sitting in my room. I thought…I thought you put it there when I was gone."

However Aggron shook his head. "No, I never even knew that they had written this letter, but…" Aggron said, handing the latter back to Lloyd. "That is definitely Aurora's handwriting."

Lloyd nodded. "I know," he said. "I'm finding all sorts of weird discoveries today."

Aggron straightened back up. "So why are you here now?"

"I volunteer…" Lloyd announced. "…myself to be the one to deliver the Iron Plate to the Iron Temple."

The other pokemon stopped their conversations and looked at the young Lucario in surprise. However, Aggron, as expected, was the first to object.

"What!" Aggron exclaimed in astonishment. "Why?"

"I've lived my whole life trying to figure out the truth about my powers," Lloyd responded adamantly. "You read that letter yourself! The Iron Plate, the Iron Temple, my powers," Lloyd said, looking at his god father with hope in his eyes. "It's gotta be connected, I _know _it is. Besides," Lloyd's face darkened. "I'm not going to let this chance slip through my fingers…like I did with my dad."

The last few words hit Aggron like a stray bullet, his face taking on a conflicted expression as his gaze fell to the floor.

"I see," he said softly. "So you really want to go through with this?"

"Yes," Lloyd nodded. "I need to do this."

"Hmph," Aggron gave the Lucario a small smile. "Well, I suppose you are your father's son."

In truth, Aggron already knew that Lloyd was the best choice for this mission. He was far stronger than anyone else present for his age. Also Lloyd had spent the most time on the mainland thanks to Luke's travelling around. On top of all that, Lloyd was a Lucario, one of the fastest steel types in the world and easily capable of navigating through the Sinnoh region.

Making his decision, Aggron turned to face the small crowd.

"Empoleon!" he commanded.

The metal penguin snapped to attention. "Yes?"

"Go to the ocean," Aggron instructed. "Inform Wailord that we will be in need of his assistance."

"As you wish," and with that Empoleon waddled off to do as Aggron said.

"Wailord?" Lloyd said in confusion. "What's he gonna do?"

Aggron turned back to his god child. "He's going to take you to the mainland, Lloyd."

Excitement welled up in the Lucario's eyes. "Does this mean that…"

"Yes," Aggron nodded. "As the leader of the Iron committee, I hereby accept you as the candidate for this mission."

A small cheer erupted from the other pokemon, happy that someone worthy of the task was found.

Probopass, using his magnetic powers, lifted the Iron Plate once again and carried it to the Lucario.

"Here," Probopass said, handing Lloyd the Iron Plate. "Be careful when you carry this, and make sure you don't lose it."

"I won't," Lloyd said, accepting the tablet. "Thanks."

"Alright," Aggron said, addressing Lloyd. "You have a little over a month to reach the Iron Temple, Wailord will depart tomorrow morning, ensure that your preparations are complete by then."

Lloyd nodded. "Understood."

"Well then," Aggron announced. "If there is nothing left to discuss, then…"

"WAIT!"

Everyone turned around to find Flygon, who had remained in his hiding spot the entire time, had emerged and was running towards them.

"If Lloyd is going on an epic quest," He said, slinging an arm around Lloyd's shoulder. "Then I'm going as well!"

"Flygon?" Lloyd said in surprise.

"I've been on this stupid floating rock for years watching you steel types get rusty." Flygon continued. "I'm not about to pass up an opportunity for an adventure!"

Aggron let out a groan. Since evolving, Flygon had become an even bigger troublemaker than when he was a Vibrava. Unlike other Pokemon of his species, Flygon's 'goggles' were not in the shape of a circle. Instead, they were streaked back like comets, round at the front near his snout and pointed at the back near his antennae. It was a rare trait for a Flygon to have such a thing, but it was considered to be extremely attractive when finding a mate. Thus Flygon had grown to become somewhat of a flirt since his evolution. Aggron remembered one occasion where the Flygon had attempted to use all sorts of attacks to impress a group of female Skarmories.

The result?

One of the largest mountains on Iron Island had collapsed because of Flygon's recklessness, and since then he was marked as something of a delinquent.

"We don't need you going off and causing trouble," Aggron muttered. "Lloyd's journey will be difficult enough _without_ your need to wreck havoc on everything."

"Awww, C'MON!" the green dragon complained. "That was ONE time! Please let me go!" Flygon pleaded. "Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please, with a Poffin on top!"

Aggron rubbed his temples. "ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT!" he exclaimed, unable to take any more. "Fine, you can go! Just don't make me regret this decision, okay?"

"WOOHOO!" Flygon cheered, giving Lloyd a small punch on the arm. "Ya hear that, buddy!" He said eagerly to his friend. "We're going on an adventure together!"

Lloyd merely smirked. In truth he was happy Flygon was coming along. In the short years they had known each other, the two had become very close friends. It was Flygon who had helped comfort Lloyd when his parents had died. In addition to being a lively companion, Flygon was also a powerful fighter, knowing a multitude of powerful attacks like Dragon Claw and Flamethrower. He would be a valuable ally.

At the very least he would make things interesting.

"HEY, WAIT A MINUTE!"

Everyone turned in surprise to find Bastiodon's face red with fury and steam coming out of his ears.

"You're the guy who wrecked my vegetable garden!" he exclaimed.

Flygon grinned and began hovering in the air.

"…And _that's_ my cue to leave." Flygon said. "See ya at the departure point tomorrow Lloyd!" and with that he flew off.

"Get back here, you overgrown Yanma!" Bastiodon shouted angrily as he chased after the green dragon.

All of the pokemon watched as Flygon flew off into the distance, Bastiodon hot on his heels.

Aggron folded his arms and shook his head. "That dragon needs to learn some respect." He muttered.

Lloyd smiled. "This should be an entertaining journey," He said to himself.

-**The Next Day**-

It was mid-afternoon on Iron Island, and the sun had finally descended over the horizon, giving the sky an orange glow.

Aggron sighed as he watched Wailord depart with Lloyd and Flygon on his back. It had taken no less than a few minutes for them to prepare for their journey, carrying only essentials such as food, water, a map and the Iron Plate itself.

Their farewells had been brief, yet meaningful.

"_Remember" _Aggron had said before Lloyd left. "_Just follow the trail I marked on your map, and be sure to hide the Iron Plate from view. We don't know why it ended up on Iron Island; however there is always a chance that the thief may be looking for it. And…"_

Aggron placed a hand on Lloyd's shoulder. "_Above all else, please be careful…I don't want to lose you…the way I lost Luke and Aurora."_

"_I will," _Lloyd had responded. "_And thank you, Aggron…for everything you have done."_

Lloyd hugged his adoptive father, who was taken by surprise. However, he hugged the Lucario back, shedding a small tear in doing so.

"_Good luck," _Aggron had said quietly. "_And Godspeed…My…son."_

Aggron smiled. It had been a long time since he had used those words; however he truly felt that Lloyd was now like a son to him. He continued to gaze at the large whale pokemon until he was out of view.

"Are you sure it's alright? Letting him go like this?"

Aggron turned around to find Metagross, still standing beside him from this morning. After Wailord had left, the other steel pokemon had gone back to whatever they were doing that morning. However, it seemed that Metagross had stayed behind with Aggron.

In response to his question, Aggron nodded. "We have no right to keep him from discovering who he really is," Aggron said. "As his guardians we of Iron Island are sworn not to speak of it. However that does not mean we must prevent him from learning himself."

Metagross nodded, accepting his answer. "And you do not fear that Lloyd may encounter difficulties along the way?"

"I am confident in Lloyd's abilities," Aggron responded. "And he always has Flygon to help him. The combination of steel, fighting, ground, and dragon is resisted by no pokemon, which is why I let him go."

"I see," Metagross said. "Well, I suppose you would know what is best for Lloyd more than I would, after all…" Metagross paused as he turned around to leave,

"…you were once a father yourself."

Aggron did not say anything. He merely shifted his gaze to the ground and waited until Metagross had left before speaking to himself.

"Luke…Aurora…" he said softly to the clouds above. "Please…watch over your son."

**-Meanwhile-**

"UUUUGGGGGHHHHHH." Flygon groaned as he vomited into the ocean. "I HATE the sea!"

"Hey! Watch where you're doing that!" an Irritated Wailord said from below. "I just washed myself this morning."

"Sorry," Flygon burped as he lay sprawled on the whale's back.

Lloyd however was focused on the journey ahead. After years of asking questions, he was finally going to get some answers regarding his powers.

He reached down and took the Iron Plate, looking at it carefully. At first glance, it looked like an ordinary grey slab of rock, but Lloyd could feel the power contained within it.

The Plate began to glow with energy. To Lloyd's surprise, it was the same silver glow that Lloyd felt on the day of the Steelix attack. He looked closer, however the energy disappeared after a few seconds.

"Hmm," Lloyd said to himself. He remembered that both he and the Iron Plate were created in the same place. Did that mean that he and the Plate were somehow connected?

Shaking off those thoughts, Lloyd turned his attention to Mt. Coronet far off in the distance.

It would take only several days to reach the Iron Temple by foot and they had all month.

Lloyd smiled. As long as nothing went wrong on the way, they would easily make it to the Temple on time.

Feeling dazed from the sun's heat, Lloyd lay down to rest.

-**In Another Dimension**-

Unbeknownst to Flygon and Lloyd a pair of shining crimson eyes observed them. They were not being watched directly, but through a bubble floating in space, displaying everything that was occurring in a concentrated perimeter. He was not on Iron Island, nor was he anywhere else on the planet. The observer's location was in a different universe, similar in size to the pokemon world, but without the restraints of gravity.

The sole resident of this world himself was massive, a large grey body with what appeared to be black wings and a yellow mask. He had many names, the Platinum Deity, the Ruler of the Distortion World and even the Renegade Pokemon.

However, his real name was Giratina.

Giratina's eyes wandered around the Wailord until they rested on an object being held by the Lucario. From a distance, it looked like an ordinary rock. However Giratina had seen it many times before and he instantly recognized what he was looking at.

The Iron Plate

"Hmph," Giratina mused. "I would've expected Iron Island to send an army of pokemon at the very _least_ to deliver the Plate. But I suppose skilled travelers are hard to come by these days."

Giratina continued observing them through the space bubble, eyes focusing on the Lucario carrying the metal tablet, like a predator ready to strike down its' prey.

"But, regardless of who, or _what_ they send," Giratina growled. "I will not let the Iron Plate be returned before the eclipse."

The Renegade pokemon turned away and flew deeper within his distorted universe. After hovering for a few seconds, he stopped before a small floating island.

"BANETTE!" Giratina commanded with a roar.

No sooner had Giratina spoken than did a dark portal appear before him. Emerging from it stood a sinister pokemon with snake eyes, long arms and what appeared to be a zipper closing its mouth.

"Your wish…" the pokemon hissed. "…is my command, master Giratina. How may I be of service to you?"

"Ready your team," Giratina instructed, taking one last glance at Lloyd and Flygon. "I have a job for you."

**To be continued…**

**A/N: More to come later when I have less homework. **

**Sarcastic Conscience: Yeah, right, like THAT will ever happen**


	4. Captured!

**Disciple of the Iron Element: Lucario**

**Chapter 2: Captured!**

**By Tilfang**

**Author's Notes: With me being on vacation and everything, it was difficult for me to find an opening to write updates. Sorry again for the long wait, here is the next chapter! ^^**

**Special thanks to L100Meganium for being my beta reader and taking the time to edit!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or any other namesakes or references to the games; they are all copyrights to Nintendo.**

It was early afternoon when Lloyd and Flygon had arrived on dry land. The journey across the sea on Wailord's back had taken well over an hour and Lloyd was determined to get a good head start on the journey.

It wasn't long before the duo finally reached Canaclave City. Yet, as determined as they were to reach the Iron Temple, the two pokemon could not help but stare in awe at the wondrous city that stood before them. Large, towering structures as high as mountains inhabited the area. The roads were paved with concrete, a substance that neither Lloyd nor Flygon had ever felt before underfoot. Humans and pokemon of all shapes and sizes wandered around the city streets.

"Whoa!" Flygon exclaimed. "Check out all of the buildings!"

"The humans are really something, huh?" Lloyd said. "But let's not get to distracted. We still need to-"

The Lucario was cut off mid-sentence when he spotted a trainer coming from around a street corner, _Oh crap. _

Lloyd quickly looked around for a place to hide. He spotted a nearby flower garden on the edge of the road. The Lucario quickly grabbed his companion by the shoulder and darted behind a Rawst berry bush.

"Ow!" Flygon groaned, landing on his head. "What the hell was that for?"

"Shh! Quiet! There's a trainer right there!" Lloyd whispered, pointing at a boy walking nearby. Though they had a similar appearance to other humans, most trainers were often easy to distinguish through their young age and traveling attire.

When the boy had finally passed by, Lloyd breathed a sigh of relief. "Whew," he said. "That was close."

"Hey look! There's another one!" Flygon said, pointing to a girl who was walking out of a nearby Pokemart.

"Oh, no" Lloyd groaned, realizing that half of the humans in the city were pokemon trainers. "They're everywhere."

Flygon folded his arms. "So what do we do now? Just sit here and hide like a bunch of peeping Tom's?"

"We wait until the coast is clear," Lloyd explained. "Then we make a run for the other side of the city."

"That's a lame plan."

"The last thing we need is to get captured." Lloyd said adamantly. "I'm not gonna let down everyone on Iron Island just because we got careless."

"Okay, fine." Flygon muttered. "We'll wait."

The green dragon gazed around the city, taking in the lively and active environment. His eyes wandered before resting on what appeared to be a colorful cart with a man wearing an apron standing behind it.

"Hey!" Flygon exclaimed, bouncing up and down. "That guy is giving out ice cream and candy!"

Lloyd shuffled around and saw a rather plump man wearing an apron distributing ice cream cones to kids.

Flygon darted out in the open, only to have Lloyd, rather annoyingly, pull him back by the tail, causing him to land with a thump.

"Oh _come on_!" Flygon groaned. "I love candy! Besides, I'm starving!" the green dragon complained as he rubbed his belly. "My tummy needs food."

"You need those shiny coins to buy human stuff." Lloyd said. "I doubt you could get any, unless maybe you stole some."

"Oh yeah?" Flygon smirked. "I could easily earn a couple of those coins; I've seen other pokemon do it no problem."

"Pfft, yeah right," Lloyd rolled his eyes. "You can't even speak their language. Anyway, we need to focus on getting through this place."

Flygon didn't respond, which signaled Lloyd to continue

"After we get pass this city, the trip will be much easier from there. Just try not to draw any attention to yourself, okay?"

But there was still no response from the green dragon.

"Flygon?" Lloyd turned his head, "Are you even listening to me? "

However his companion was nowhere to be found.

"Oh that's just great," Lloyd growled sarcastically. "Now where did he go?"

"Oh wooow, that's so cool!"

"Awww, he's so cuuute!"

"I wonder if he's a part of the circus."

_Ehh? _Lloyd heard some human voices coming from nearby. _Wonder what's going on?_

Curious, the Lucario peeked around to investigate what the commotion was about. What he saw caused his jaw to drop.

A group of people had gathered around in a large circle, most of them being trainers. What horrified Lloyd was what he saw in the center.

Flygon, who had somehow managed to acquire a large inflatable beach ball, was standing in the middle of the crowd doing tricks using his tail.

"Woah, look at him go." A trainer observed as the dragon flicked the ball up into the air and caught it with his tail.

"That's so cool, I wonder who trained him?" said another.

"I'll bet it was Byron! He's an amazing Gym Leader!"

"But I thought Byron only used Steel types?"

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that."

The trainers continued to watch Flygon perform stunts, marveling at his dexterity. Lloyd felt his eye twitch.

_What the-What the hell is he DOING?_ _I TOLD him not to go out in public like that, he's gonna get himself captured! _

Yet to Lloyd's surprise, none of the humans made a move try and battle Flygon. It occurred to him that the spectators were more interested in watching the green dragon rather than catching him.

_Maybe he won't get captured after all._ Lloyd thought hopefully._ I mean those trainers are just watching him. _

Sadly, his hopes plummeted when that small group of onlookers turned into a massive crowd of people. Humans of all ages, young and old, had gathered to watch this talented Flygon show off tricks worthy of a contest master.

Flygon used a combination of Dragonbreath, Fly, Sandstorm and Dig to not only throw and catch the ball, but to keep it from even touching the ground.

The crowd cheered and snapped photos while Lloyd remained in his spot, his face as white as a ghost. _This couldn't get any worse. _

Finally the green dragon performed his last trick. With the ball in his hand he tossed it high up into the air. While it was rising, Flygon whipped up a Sandstorm by flapping his wings continuously. The sand rose in such a way that it surrounded the ball in the air and even kept it floating in place. Flygon then flew up into the sky and blasted a Dragonbreath towards the Sandstorm. The colorful flames mixed with the flowing sand so that it sparkled in the sky, like a bright, miniature hurricane with the ball floating in the eye of the storm. The crowd gazed in amazement, and even Lloyd could not help but watch in wonder.

In one swift motion, Flygon rose above the ball and slammed it downwards with his tail. The huge force not only sent the ball rocketing towards the ground, but the fire and sand as well. Like a comet, the beach ball came hurtling down with the shimmering sand trailing behind it.

The crowd quickly backed away as the ball slammed into the ground with a huge explosion of purple flames and glowing sand.

When the dust had cleared, Flygon gently landed on top of the ball, which was now half buried in the ground. He ended with a majestic bow.

The crowd went wild; the silence that had once dominated the air was overpowered with cheers and applause.

Berries and even coins were tossed from the crowd onto the ground before Flygon's feet, who quickly pocketed them in his knapsack.

Lloyd sweat dropped. "He risked himself just so he could get some money!"

Realizing the show was over, many of the spectators left to continue their daily activities. Some stayed behind to take some last minute photos and sketches, but by the time Flygon had gathered everything the others had left.

Lloyd breathed a sigh of relief.

_That was to close, _he thought. _It was a miracle he wasn't captured. Still…_

The Lucario turned to face his companion, who was gathering the last of the coins on the ground. _I wonder where he learned how to do all of those tricks. Flygon never did any of that stuff on Iron Island. _

After looking around one last time Flygon finally headed back to where Lloyd was waiting. A silly smile was plastered on his face.

BZAP!

Out of nowhere, a white beam of light flew through the sky and struck Flygon in the chest. The green dragon had vanished, in his place stood a statue, in the same shape and pose as Flygon when he was hit.

Lloyd froze with shock. "F-Flygon?"

"Haha! We got him!"

Lloyd spun around and saw two tall humans in uniform approach; one of them was holding a gun. The Lucario retreated back to his hiding spot, thankful that they did not see him.

"Nice shot, Bill." one of them said, putting the petrified Flygon into a glass case.

"Heh heh, Pokemon Hunter J. will be pleased." the other one replied. "A pokemon that can do tricks…this one should fetch for a good price."

Lloyd growled from beneath the bushes. It took every ounce of willpower not to run out and Bulletpunch the two humans in the face. But Lloyd saw what the blast had done to Flygon and even if he had managed to rescue the green dragon, he had no idea how to unpetrify him aanyway.

The Lucario followed the two humans as they took the stone dragon and carried him off. They were both fully grown adults by the sound of their voices.

_Are they trainers? _Lloyd thought. _No, they can't be. If they were trainers, they would've those Pokeballs to capture Flygon._ Lloyd shook his head._ Who…who are these guys?_

However, it wasn't long before the men reached a large armored vehicle.

"Alright, here we are." The man named Bill said. "Load him into the truck."

The other human, Mac, opened up the rear door and carefully put the encased Flygon into the vehicle. Once he had secured the doors the two men got into the front seat.

"Ready to go?" Bill said as they buckled in.

"Yeah," Mac replied. "Let's get back to the base before Hunter J. throws a fit again."

Bill turned the ignition and drove out onto the street.

Unknown to the two men, Lloyd had hitchhiked onto top of the vehicle while it was moving. His arms held onto the edges of the truck for support.

"I hope you're happy with yourself, Flygon," Lloyd growled. "Of all the humans in the city, you just had to go and get captured by _these_ guys!"

And as they drove off into the forest, Lloyd wondered where the truck would be taking him and Flygon, and more importantly, how they were going to escape.

**To be continued…**


	5. Unleashed Power

**Disciple of the Iron Element: Lucario**

**Chapter 3: Unleashed Power**

**By Tilfang**

**Author's Notes: I know I haven't been the best updater as of recently, and I'm sorry. School has taken up a lot of time recently and it has been difficult to find openings to write more. **

**Special thanks to L100Meganium for being my beta reader and taking the time to edit!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or any other namesakes or references to the games; they are all copyrights to Nintendo.**

After what seemed like hours, the black van finally came to a stop before a large fence. The entrance was blocked off by a guard rail connected to a small control tower on the side of the road.

As the van came up to the entrance, an armed guard stepped out of the control tower.

Mac reached into his coat pocket and produced a small ID card. He waved it at the guard who nodded and pressed a small green button inside the tower's control box.

The guard rail retracted from the road, allowing Bill to drive into the vicinity.

Within the fenced perimeter was a large research facility surrounded by dozens of tents and small buildings. Trucks and tanks of all sizes rested in a massive concrete parking lot. However, the one thing that stood out the most was the research tower in the center of the hidden base. With its large domes and hallways, the research tower was by far the largest structure in the area.

"We must be the last ones in," Mac said, noticing the almost full parking area.

"It's late already, everyone will either be asleep or inside the research center," Bill replied as he drove the vehicle into the drive lot.

After parking the truck, the two men then got out and opened the back door.

"Help me with this, will ya?" Mac said as he grabbed the encased Flygon from within the vehicle.

"Sure, hold it steady." Bill grunted, taking the opposite end of the container.

Carrying the glass case, Bill and Mac headed towards the nearest entrance to the research building. On the side of the door was a small pass code lock with a number keyboard. Bill punched in the four digit password which opened the door. The two entered a large hallway that was layered with all sorts of machinery and computers.

"You know, I've been thinking," Mac said as they carried Flygon down the corridor. "Ever since Hunter J. got outta that mess with the Lake Guardians, she's been acting kinda crazy, dontcha think?"

"Are you sure you should be talking about her like that?" Bill said nervously, looking around to ensure that they weren't being heard. "What if someone hears you?"

Mac shrugged. "I dunno, the other guys think so too. Besides, everyone's either on guard duty or asleep. No one's in the tower now 'cept Hunter J. herself and a couple of scientists."

The two men rounded a nearby corner before reaching a large, metal door. Bill entered in another four digit code, opening it.

Inside was like a massive warehouse, except instead of boxes and crates were empty cages and cells. Bill and Mac carried Flygon to the furthest cell which was built into the wall. Aside from the steel bars, it was the oldest and most worn out of all the other cages. Scratch marks went up all over the walls and even onto the ceiling. There were only two lamps hanging down from the ceiling and one of them was broken, leaving only half of the cell illuminated.

The two men placed the glass case onto the floor. Bill then went up and dialed another password into the cell computer while Mac approached the container.

He leaned down and pressed a small red button at the container's base which instantly un-petrified the green dragon.

Flygon spun around and fell to the floor with a thump.

As Bill opened the cell door, Mac forcefully placed a mechanical collar onto Flygon's neck and hurled him into the cell. Bill then closed the door with a bang and re-locked it.

"Come to think of it, I've never seen this Pokemon before," Mac said, observing Flygon. "Is he some sort of flying type?"

"He's a Pokemon from the Hoenn region," Bill replied. "A dragon type, if I recall."

"A dragon type?" Mac laughed incredulously. "What a joke! That thing looks like some sort of stupid bug!"

With a snarl, Flygon lunged at the human, only to be knocked back by the cell bars.

"Nice try," Bill smirked. "But this cage is guarded with a force field. You won't be getting out of here anytime soon."

Flygon groaned in pain, clutching his throbbing head while the two men began walking towards the exit.

"You two play nice, now!" Mac laughed as they left the room.

_Two? _Flygon thought. _Aren't I the only one here?_

A sinister growl from within the cell told him otherwise, and it was with great terror that Flygon realized he wasn't alone.

**-Meanwhile-**

"Arrrrggggh!" Lloyd groaned. "I thought I'd be up here forever!"

After perhaps hours of lying face up on top of the black truck, Lloyd was finally able to move his arms and legs around. He groaned as he stretched himself to his feet. The long trip had taken a toll on his body, and the fact that he hadn't rested nor eaten anything since landing only made it worse.

Careful not to hurt himself, Lloyd gently lowered his body to the ground.

"Oh, geez." he muttered. "Now where am I?"

The Lucario took in his surroundings. It was almost like Canaclave City, except the buildings were very small and there was a bizarre tower standing in the center of the area. In addition, there was that large fence surrounding the camp.

"Gotta find Flygon," Lloyd grumbled. He remembered the two humans taking his friend over to the large building.

The Lucario made his way over to the research tower, being careful not to get spotted.

When he finally reached the entrance, Lloyd gazed at the pass code with a blank stare.

"Umm," Lloyd pushed random buttons the way he saw Bill had done, only to be greeted with a red, blinking light and a discouraging sound.

He tried a second time only to receive the same response.

_This is getting me nowhere, _Lloyd thought.

Positioning his body in front of the door, Lloyd got into a combat stance with one foot behind the other and his left paw extended forward. Concentrating, Lloyd focused until white energy began glowing from within his fist. _Guess I gotta do this the hard way._

**-Inside-**

"H-hello?" Flygon said meekly. "Anyone there?"

A pair of red eyes glared at him from the darkness of the cell. And as Flygon stepped back against the bars, they got closer and closer.

"S-stay back!" Flygon threatened. "I'm warning you!"

However, once the pair of eyes stepped into the light, Flygon was able to properly see what it really was.

Before him stood a white, four legged Pokemon with black paws and what appeared to be a sickle sticking out of its head.

"Eh?" Flygon said in surprise. "What's an Absol doing here?"

Yet it wasn't an ordinary Absol. His fur was slightly shaggy around the mane, his eyes were brighter than they should have been and judging from his facial expression, it was obvious that he had spent too much time in the darkness.

The pokemon responded with a growl. "Who are you?" He snarled. "Why are you here?"

"H-hey," Flygon said nervously. "L-look, buddy, I just feel asleep and woke up in that glass thingy. I don't want a fight."

"Well too bad!" he snarled. "Cause you've got one!"

The Absol lunged at Flygon with his paws outstretched with blinding speed. Flygon flinched, there was no way he could have countered the attack, so did the only thing he could by holding out his arms to protect his face.

And that's when the collar went off.

At first Flygon felt something tickling his throat, but then he realized that the collar placed around his neck was vibrating violently. Sparks erupted as it sent electrical shockwaves through his body.

The Absol collapsed in midair and yelped in pain as the collar around his throat also began emitting electricity.

_So they put a collar on him too, _Flygon thought. _They must have placed these things on to keep us from fighting each other._

He gazed once more at the metal collar around his neck, sparks continued to fly as it uselessly attempted to shock his body.

_That's right, _Flygon thought in realization. _I'm a ground type. Electricity doesn't affect me. _

The green dragon tapped the metal collar with his claw, _I wonder if I can get it off…_

In one motion, Flygon gripped onto the collar and snapped it off.

_Phew, _he thought. _That was easy. _

He glanced once more at the Absol who was still on the floor. With every pulse of static, the white canine yelped in agony.

Feeling a wave of pity for the Pokemon, Flygon reached over the Absol's body and carefully tore the metal collar around its neck as well.

Realizing he was no longer being electrocuted, the Absol's cries of pain died down. He slowly raised his head and spotted the broken collar in Flygon's hand.

"Why…" he growled softly. "Why did you help me?"

Flygon hesitated, not really sure himself. "I guess I just felt bad seeing you in pain like that."

"I attacked you!" the Absol snarled. "Why didn't you just leave me on the floor? What kind of Pokemon are you?"

Flygon frowned slightly; not expecting that kind of response,"Look, I just don't wanna see my comrades suffer, alright?"

The white canine arched an eyebrow. "Comrades? Me?"

"Um…well, yeah," Flygon rubbed his head. "I mean…you and I are from the Hoenn region, right? That makes us kinda like brothers, doesn't it?"

"The hell it does," the Absol shot out. "I've been in this place for months now. What the heck could you understand about what my life has been like?"

"Look, punk," Flygon shot back. "You're right; I don't know what it's like to be trapped in a cage, but I just saved your hide, can't you show a little bit more gratitude?"

The Absol opened his mouth to retaliate, but decided against it and bowed his head slightly. "Y-you're right." He said shamefully. "I'm sorry, It's...It's just that…"

Flygon tilted his head. "It's just what?"

The Absol shifted uncomfortably. "It's just that I've been in this cage for a long time now. I'm not used to such acts of kindness."

Flygon looked at him sympathetically. "Heh, don't be too hard on yourself. I'd go mad too if I were trapped in this place by myself. Glad I could help."

He extended a claw forward. The Absol hesitated but then shook it with his own paw. "Thanks."

Flygon smiled. "Now that that's settled…How about helping me bust outta here?"

The Absol looked up enthusiastically, but then his gaze turned downcast. "Sorry…but we can't. I already tried many times. You see those bars?" The Absol motioned towards the cell bars. "I broke out of here a couple of times."

Flygon's eyes widened with surprise. "Whoa, you broke through those things?"

"Actually, these ones are brand new. When I first got here, they were old and worn down, so it was easy for me to escape. But every time I got out, the humans would recapture me and throw me back. Then they would come and replace the old bars with stronger ones."

The Absol shook his head. "The bars they have installed now are too strong. I can't break through them anymore."

"So then breaking the bars is out of the question," Flygon muttered. "How about going through the walls?"

"I tried that too," the Absol replied bitterly, gesturing towards the claw marks etched on the wall. "But it's made of solid concrete, you'll just hurt yourself."

"What about the floor?" Flygon asked. "What's the floor made of?"

"The floor?" the Absol gave Flygon a confused look. "It's made of metal. Why?"

Flygon grinned. "If we can't go through the walls…then we'll just have to go under them."

"Under them?" the Absol said doubtfully. "How do you plan on doing that?"

"Flamethrower," Flygon responded simply. "I'm gonna melt through this metal with my fire attack, then I'll use Dig to burrow under the ground as our getaway."

"Are you sure?" the Absol said, somewhat excited at the prospect of actually escaping. "It looks pretty solid to me."

Flygon smirked. "I've lived on an island full of steel types while growing up. Trust me…" he said, cracking his knuckles, "…I've had plenty of practice."

Preparing his attack, the green dragon inhaled a large breath of air when a thought occurred to him.

"Hey," Flygon said, addressing the Absol. "I never got your name."

"My name?" the Absol blinked. "My name is Alastor."

**-Meanwhile-**

"Aww man," Lloyd groaned. "Not another dead end!"

The Lucario had easily broken into the facility with one Bullet Punch and one Flash Cannon, but the search for Flygon _inside _the building was another challenge altogether.

Growling with annoyance, Lloyd turned around and ran off into another passageway. In truth he had no idea where Flygon was or how he was going to free him. The only advantage in Lloyd's rescue mission was that there were no guards in the building.

He reared around another corner only to run into another dead end.

_Why? Why did this have to happen? _Lloyd thought miserably. _Why couldn't Flygon just have stayed put when I asked him to? Why did he have to go and get captured like this? And why…_

Lloyd stopped. _Why do my feet feel like they're on fire?_

Realizing that the ground beneath him was burning, Lloyd quickly sidestepped to the nearest wall. A large, glowing orange circle appeared on the floor, and Lloyd could see that steam was rising from beneath it.

Suddenly, a stream of fire blasted through the floor as flames licked up at the ceiling.

The Lucario recoiled. _Is this some sort of trap! _However the flames quickly died down until there was nothing left but a large hole in the ground.

Lloyd edged closer to peek down, when a familiar green head popped out of the hole in the same style as a Diglett.

"Ahh, crap," Flygon complained. "I thought for sure we'd be outside."

Lloyd's eyes widened in shock, "F-Flygon!"

The green dragon whirled around, recoiling when he saw the Lucario's face. "L-Lloyd? What are you doing here? Did they capture you too?"

The Lucario felt his eye twitch. "I was looking for you, you idiot!" He growled, smacking him over the head. "It's YOUR fault that we got in this mess!"

However the Lucario stopped when he realized that Flygon wasn't alone. "Hey, who's that behind you?"

"Hmm?" Flygon turned around when he saw the Absol emerge from the hole. "Oh, that's Alastor, he's an Absol who helped me escape."

"Umm, nice to meet you." The Absol said, somewhat nervously as he bowed slightly.

"Nice to meet you too," The Lucario nodded. "I'm Lloyd."

The two shook paws as Flygon dusted himself off. "Alright," he said to Lloyd. "So what's your plan to get outta here?"

"Umm," Lloyd rubbed the back of his neck. He hadn't thought that far ahead.

"You don't have a plan, do you?" Flygon rolled his eyes.

"Hey, at least Ididn't get myself captured!" Lloyd growled.

"Don't worry," Alastor said, stepping forward. "I'll help you guys get out of here."

Lloyd blinked. "Do you know the way to the exit?"

"No," the Absol responded, earning a groan from the blue jackal. "But I _do _know where _not _to go; I've been through these hallways a couple of times and I know which ones lead to a dead end."

"Alright, lead the way."

The three Pokemon ran off into the facility with Alastor at the head. After several minutes of running, the Absol stopped in front of a large metal door that was big enough for a Snorlax to fit through. In the center was a large steel lock that held the two doors together.

Alastor sniffed it briefly. "This is the one door I haven't been through yet. In the past I couldn't open it because the lock was too strong."

"Think it'll lead us outside?" Flygon said hopefully.

Lloyd crouched slightly. "Only one way to find out," he said as he got into a battle stance. "Stand back."

The Absol and Flygon backed away as Lloyd concentrated before lunging forward. "Close Combat!"

In a flurry in punches and kicks the Lucario attacked the iron lock on the door. With every punch the metal was dented slightly until the entire lock and broken into pieces.

An unusual beeping noise sounded until the door opened automatically. The trio entered through the door only to find themselves in another room.

It was fairly large; as long and wide as a tennis court and as high as a fully grown Gyarados. The entire room was bare except for several small doors around the wall. On the far side of the room was a large platform, the kind that a human would give a speech to a large crowd on.

Standing on that platform was a human.

_Huh? _Lloyd thought. _There's someone here?_

She was a woman, judging from her appearance. She had silver hair and lightly colored skin. She wore a purple overcoat with a red shirt underneath. Over her eyes was a pair of dark goggles which concealed her eyes.

At first the human didn't seem all surprised to see that three pokemon had just broken through a large metal door. She reached into one of her coat pockets and pulled out a small black object.

Lloyd remained on guard, expecting it to be some sort of weapon. However instead of throwing it like he expected, the human brought it up to her mouth and spoke some words into it.

Instantly, a second pair of doors slammed shut behind Lloyd, Flygon and Alastor, leaving them trapped in the room.

Flygon rushed over and attempted to pry them open, but to no avail. "Damn it," he growled. "We're trapped."

Suddenly, another pair of doors opened up from the opposite side of the room. Out of it came a dozen men in dark uniforms, all rushing out and onto the field before them.

Flygon cringed. "Crap, there are more of them."

"Accursed humans," Alastor growled. "They're the reason I was stuck in this forsaken place for so long."

The woman, known as Pokemon Hunter J, raised a single hand into the air and snapped her fingers. As if on cue, each man pulled out a Pokeball and hurled it into the air.

A swirl of white lights flew out of the Pokeballs, and from them a swarm of Golbats emerged into the sky before them.

"Ugh, I hate these things," Flygon said disdainfully. "They always spam that stupid Confuse Ray attack."

Lloyd got into a battle stance. "We have no choice, let's just beat these guys and get out of this place."

"Wait." Alastor interrupted. He stepped forward to face the swarm of Golbats before him. "Let me handle them."

The Lucario hesitated. "Are you sure?"

Alastor nodded. "You and your friend helped me escape from my cell. Let me pay you back by defeating these guys for you."

Lloyd backed down. "Alright, go ahead."

"Thanks." He smiled and in an instant, the Absol vanished in a cloud of darkness.

At first Lloyd thought he had somehow used teleport to disappear. But then the Absol reappeared behind the Golbat swarm in a blur.

With one swipe of his paw, the Absol slammed two of the bats in the sky onto the ground, knocking them out instantly.

Lloyd blinked with surprise. _Whoa, was that Sucker Punch?_

Realizing what had happened, the other Golbats surrounded the Absol in midair. Dark orbs of energy gathered in their mouths as they prepared to fire Shadow Ball.

Alastor smiled and twirled his head, causing a large gust of wind to surround him in a tornado. The power of the Razor Wind attack was so strong that Lloyd had to shift his balance so he wouldn't get blown away. The Golbats finally fired their Shadow Ball attacks, only to have the purple blobs bounce off of the Razor Wind tornado and right back at the Golbats, knocking out another bunch of them in the process.

Another Golbat swooped in with its fangs out for a Leech Life attack. The Absol countered by Crunching down on its wing as it got close and hurling it into the wall.

As Alastor landed back on the ground, two of the remaining Golbats rose into the air and dove down, wings extended for a Wing Attack.

The Absol skillfully jumped over the first attack and sliced the Golbat with a Night Slash, knocking it out instantly.

The second Golbat adjusted his position so that he wouldn't be avoided in the same way. However, Alastor merely whipped his head once more and sent a Psycho Cut blade straight at the charging flying type.

The Golbat didn't even have a chance to blink before the energy blade knocked him out onto the floor.

Alastor smiled triumphantly as the humans in uniform recalled their Pokemon. They stood in a line, ready to send out another Pokeball when Hunter J shoved past them.

"Ugh, useless men!" the woman growled angrily. "I guess I have to do _everything _around here!"

She hurled a Pokeball into the air and out of it came a menacing looking dragon.

Lloyd felt shivers going up his spine just looking at it. "What an intimidating Pokemon," he muttered.

"Oh, man, this is really bad," Flygon said grimly. "She's got a Salamence."

"You've heard of it?" Lloyd said, trying to avoid the blue dragon's eyes.

"Yeah," Flygon nodded. "I've heard stories about these things. They say that just one of them is capable of demolishing an entire forest."

The Salamence let out a mighty roar, causing all three of them to shiver slightly.

Alastor charged forward, head bowed slightly in preparation for another Night Slash attack. However the Salamence anticipated this, and with one flap of its wings flew into the sky.

The Absol halted when he realized that his attack had missed.

He should've kept charging.

The Salamence brought its front claw onto the unfortunate Absol's body as it descended to the ground. With a startled yelp, Alastor was thrown back across the air and into the door behind him.

"Rrgh," he growled. "That…hurt."

"Alastor!" Flygon rushed up to him. "Are you alright?"

"Tch, yeah but…," he slowly rose to his feet, obviously hurt from the attack, "…I don't think I can fight anymore."

Lloyd stepped forward. "That's fine, you did enough," he got into another combat stance. "I'll handle this one."

Hunter J. smiled. "Use Flamethrower," she commanded.

Salamence took a large breath of air and then blasted a huge trail of fire. Lloyd cringed. _Uh oh._

Instinctively, he quickly charged up a white sphere and blasted it towards the approaching flames. The burst of Flash Cannon and Flamethrower collided and were now pushing against each other with incredible force. However, Salamence's attack quickly began to overcome the silver blast and was getting closer and closer to the Lucario.

_Oh, no, _Lloyd panicked. _This looks bad. _

It wasn't long before the flames completely overcame the steel attack and engulfed the Lucario in a sea of flames. Lloyd screamed as the fire burned his body.

"LLOYD!" Flygon dashed forward to help his friend.

"DON'T!" Lloyd roared back. "Take Alastor and get out of here!" he shouted as fire continued to pour onto him.

"We're not leaving without you!" Flygon shot back and attempted to stop the attack with his own Flamethrower, only to have it shrugged off uselessly.

Lloyd's body began to collapse. He could feel his consciousness fading as he was being burned alive. _No…_, he thought. _I can't…I can't let it end like this…_

He fell to his knees, trying with all of his willpower to keep himself from fainting. _I can't…let down the Pokemon on Iron Island…I need to stay…awake. _

He briefly looked up at the pokemon Hunter who owned the Salamence. She smiled as her pet dragon continued to send out flames.

_No…_

_I can't…_

_I must not…_

…

…

_I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED!_

Lloyd blasted his arms and legs out in a repulse movement as a massive explosion erupted from within his body. A huge blast of silver energy shot out across the room, engulfing everything in a bright explosion.

The Salamence was caught completely off guard, and attempted to dodge the attack by flying into the air.

But it was too little too late.

The dragon was quickly caught in the blast of energy and flung across the room by the impact. Its large body collided with several of the armed guards and blew them back like bowling pins. The remaining guards were thrown back like rag dolls, and even Hunter J. was knocked off of her feet.

Machines and computers exploded and sections of the wall crumbled as the blast quickly laid ruin to everything. The doors that had once trapped the Lucario, Flygon and Absol were torn off their hinges and blown into the wall behind them.

The only ones unaffected by the attack were Alastor and Flygon, who stood there, eyes widened with shock.

After the white energy had died down, Lloyd fell down to the ground with a thud. "Ugh…what…what happened?"

Flygon whistled as he observed the damage. "Wow. Remind me never to piss you off, Lloyd," He said.

Even Alastor could not mask his amazement. "That was an impressive attack. What was it?"

Lloyd rubbed his head. "I…I have no idea," he stared at his palms, which emitted white steam. _Did I…_he gazed back at the destruction that he caused. _Did I just use Metal Burst?_

He remembered being hit with that Flamethrower attack and then…_That feeling, _he shook his head. _What was that feeling in my body? It was like power just came out of nowhere._

"Hey guys!"

Flygon and Lloyd turned around to see Alastor observing the broken doors.

"That attack knocked the doors open!" he said excitedly. "We can get out of here now!"

"Alright!" Flygon cheered. "Let's go!"

Lloyd nodded and began to rise to his feet when he felt his body collapse again.

"Urgh!" he groaned. "My leg…"

"Hey, you okay?" Flygon said worriedly.

"Y-yeah," Lloyd responded somewhat weakly. "I'll be fine."

"Here, lemme help you," Flygon put an arm around his shoulder and helped the Lucario to his feet. "Thanks."

_CLICK_

Lloyd whirled around and saw that Hunter J. had risen from the floor and was now facing them. The sunglasses that had once covered her face were gone, presumably destroyed, revealing her bright, yet antagonistic eyes.

"Grrr," she growled, obviously angry. "Damn Pokemon always have to ruin EVERYTHING." She raised her hand, which was armed with some sort of cannon and pointed it towards Lloyd. "I'll take care of you myself!"

Flygon blew a fuse. "That does it!" he roared, dropping Lloyd to the ground. "I've HAD it with you freaking humans! I'm gonna rip you to pieces!"

He began to charge forward when Alastor stopped him. "That thing on her arm will turn you to stone!" he said, gesturing to the gun bracelet on her arm. "She'll just shoot and put you back in that cage!"

"Then what are we supposed to do, huh!" Flygon said angrily. "Just let her recapture us again!"

Lloyd felt dizzy. Even after everything that occurred, was it really all for nothing? Did he really just go through all of that just to get caught again?

Hunter J. smiled as she took aim with her gun. "I don't know what kind of freak you are, pulling that stunt against my Salamence, but I'm sure it'll fetch for a good price on the market." She clicked the trigger back. "Goodbye, Lucario."

And then that's when they heard the roar.

It came out of nowhere, a massive, blood curdling roar blasted through the building. Lloyd felt shivers shoot up his spine; it was much louder than the Salamence he faced earlier.

Then the ground began to rumble as the sound of crashing trees could be heard in the distance. It was as if the gods themselves had decided to join the fight and began attacking the facility itself.

Hunter J. dropped her gun and turned to one of the armed men who had been blown back. "You there, what is happening, what was that roar?"

The man quickly got up and ran to a computer screen built into the wall. He typed in something and analyzed the screen. "It looks like we're under attack." He said nervously.

"What!" J turned her attention to the guard, already forgetting about the three other Pokemon. "Who's attacking us!"

"W-we believe it's a Pokemon," the man explained, looking at the computer screen. "The explosion in here must have aggravated a wild Onix or something and caused it to rampage."

Hunter J rubbed her temples, obviously annoyed that such a thing was taking place. After making a decision, she addressed the guard once again. "Gather our remaining men and have them defend the building. Our priority is to ensure that nothing in this laboratory is damaged."

The guard saluted. "Yes, ma'am," and turned to leave when he noticed the Lucario, Flygon and Absol on the opposite end of the hall. "What about them?"

"Leave them," J replied. "It's not like we have a demand for Lucario, anyway. We need to concentrate on defending this camp."

The guard nodded and left through the doorway from which he came. J followed but stopped and turned to face Lloyd one last time.

_You're more trouble than you're worth, Lucario, _she thought. _Be thankful I'm actually letting you go. _

And with that she exited the room.

Lloyd watched her leave in surprise. "Huh? She's just gonna leave us?"

Flygon shrugged. "I'm not complaining, let's get outta here!"

The Lucario nodded and followed his two companions out of the door. All the while his mind was plagued with one question: _Did I really do all of that?"_

**-Five Minutes Later-**

"Finally!" Flygon cheered as the trio managed to locate the exit. "That took forever!"

"The gate entrance is just up ahead," Alastor explained. "With all of the guards running amok, I doubt anyone will try and stop us."

The two canine Pokemon leaped over the guard rail at the entrance and ran into the woods surrounding the vicinity. However something caught Flygon's eye that caused him to stop.

It was a black van. But it wasn't just any black van it was the same vehicle Bill and Mac had used to take Flygon to the building.

Glancing briefly at the exit, Flygon quickly flew towards the black vehicle and landed before it.

He was reminded of the events which led up to him being imprisoned in that cell. The way those two men had treated him like some piece of machinery and how they had forcefully mistreated him and Alastor made his blood boil. But there was one particular thing one of the humans had said earlier that really got to him.

_What a joke! That thing looks like some sort of stupid bug!_

Eyes burning with fury, Flygon lashed out towards the vehicle with his claws.

"No one…" he snarled. "…_No _one calls me a bug!"

The Dragon Claw technique left two massive slash marks on the hood of the vehicle. Suddenly, sparks began flying out as the engine shook around violently.

"Time to go," Flygon rasped and flew into the night sky.

**-Outside-**

"Is anyone chasing us?" Alastor asked as he and Lloyd ran out into the woods.

"I don't think so," Lloyd replied. "We should be safe."

The two Pokemon stopped to catch their breath.

Alastor gazed up at the moon when he realized something. "I'm free."

"What?"

"I'm finally free…," the Absol breathed, a large smile growing on his face. "…After so long…I'm free…Look over here!" the Absol ran over to a nearby tree.

"The trees, the earth, the stars…I can see it all once again!" and the Absol broke down into what Lloyd could only guess was laughter and crying at the same time. "I'm free at last…"

Lloyd couldn't help but smile as well. In spite of everything that had occurred he was happy that he was able to help a Pokemon in need.

"Hey," Alastor said. "Where's your dragon friend?"

"Huh?" Lloyd looked around and realized that Flygon was nowhere to be found. "Oh no…" he groaned. "Don't tell me that he got-"

"Flygon present and accounted for!" exclaimed a voice from the sky.

Lloyd and Alastor looked up to find none other than Flygon descending towards the ground.

"Where _were _you!" Lloyd said, grabbing his friend by the shoulders. "I thought you were recaptured or something!"

Flygon chuckled nervously. "I was, uh…using the bathroom?"

Lloyd's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You weren't causing any trouble, were you?"

The green dragon feigned offense. "Me?" he said innocently. "Trouble? Aww, c'mon Lloyd, gimme more credit than that. I was just-"

BOOM

Flygon cringed as the truck he had damaged minutes ago exploded. The impact was so great that the vehicle beside it also went up in flames, which in turn triggered another explosion. Like a row of dominoes, the line of parked trucks blew up one after the other.

The desert spirit flinched as one of the nearby vehicles was blown into the air and smashed into a nearby tree, smashing it into pieces.

Lloyd shot Flygon an annoyed look but the desert spirit merely shrugged.

"Hey," the green dragon said. "They started it."

**To be continued…**

**A/N: WOW that was long. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. Now excuse me as I go and wipe my eyes -_-**


End file.
